Double Fine announces Hack 'n' Slash

The Zelda-inspired Hack 'n' Slash came to life during the 2012 Amnesia Fortnight game jam.

Double Fine has announced Hack 'n' Slash, a Zelda inspired RPG where the player's main weapon is to re-write the code of the game.

The puzzle action game will release in the first half of 2014 and will be heading to Windows, Linux and Mac systems.

'I’ve always loved games with lots of secrets in them,' said Hack ‘n’ Slash project lead Brandon Dillon. 'When I first discovered a hex editor in an emulator, it dawned on me that I could be a kind of digital treasure hunter—no game could keep even its deepest secrets from me if I adventured long enough in its code and memory.'

The game aims to subvert old-school gaming tropes with hacking mechanics that hope to allow non-programmer players to experience the same sense of discovery and digital treasure hunting that Dillon describes.

The project first sprung to life during Double Fine's 2012 Amnesia Fortnight internal game jam that was broadcast to the world through a Humble Bundle promotion and an early prototype has already been played by those who paid to access the bundle.

Hack 'n' Slash follows in the footsteps of Spacebase-DF9 which has already launched on Steam Early Access and already proven highly successful.

Like Spacebase-DF9, the game was funded by investment from several groups and individuals including Indie Fund, Humble Bundle, Hemisphere Games, The Behemoth, AppAbove, Make All, Adam Saltsman, Morgan Webb and Rob Reid.

'We’re psyched to be helping with Hack’n'Slash because Amnesia Fortnight projects are about empowering individual creators,' said Indie Fund partner Ron Carmel.

From the Amnesia Fortnight game jam, three more unreleased prototypes remain. Access to the early prototypes as well as the accompanying documentaries can still be bought from Double Fine's online store.